OCP Africa, a subsidiary of OCP Group, a leading global producer of phosphate and its derivatives, has supported the training of over 100 women farmers at the second edition of the annual Women in Food and Agric Leadership Training Forum & Expo (WOFAGRIC) in Kumasi.

WOFAGRIC serves as a platform for mentoring, networking and learning opportunities designed for the benefit of women in agriculture.

The programme, organized by Agrihouse Foundation under the theme: “Transforming and Sustaining Women in Agriculture: The Role of Public, Private and Development Partners, brought together farmers, agripreneurs, key stakeholders, development partners, researchers, farmer groups, government agencies, businesses, civil society, investment and professional advisors, as well as corporate organizations.

Speaking on OCP Africa’s support and participation at the Women in Food and Agric Leadership Training Forum & Expo (WOFAGRIC), the Business Development Manager of OCP Africa Ghana, Eric Nesta Quarshie, said: OCP Africa has been a strong supporter and promoter of women involved in agriculture, especially small-holder farmers.

Therefore, we see the partnership with Agrihouse as another opportunity to demonstrate our support to our hardworking women farmers in the country.”

“Our strong commitment to women farmers in Ghana led to the introduction of our Women in Agribooster program which will be launched very soon to support about 5,000 women smallholder farmers cultivating maize and rice in Ghana.

The program seeks to also supply 1,250 MT of fertilizers and provide training in Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and farming as a business through MoFA and other partners,” he revealed.

He added that the Women in Agribooster program will lessen the negative effect of COVID-19 on women by improving their revenue, increase yield by 30% and add 15,000 metric tons of rice and maize to the food stock.

Facilitating one of the training sessions at the conference, Mr. Quarshie explained that participants were trained on the effective ways for women in agriculture to increase their ability to produce food in their communities.

“The women farmers and other stakeholders at the conference have been equipped on the modern and effective ways of food production by the OCP team. We also exposed them to OCP Africa’s modern soil testing van to enlighten them on the various ways OCP Africa is advancing agriculture in Ghana and Africa, he disclosed.

The event also rewarded 45 nominee-women farmers at the Gold in the Soil Awards which climaxed the conference.

The 2020 edition of WOFAGRIC covered training, panel conversations, mentoring, and capacity building sessions that cover topics like finance, market accessibility, production, leadership, among others.